In a new development in the ongoing Israeli atrocities against Palestinians, about 100 Israeli doctors have signed an open letter demanding that the Israeli military bomb hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
Claiming that it is the Israeli occupation army’s “right and duty” to attack hospitals, the petition accused the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas of using the medical facilities as “terrorist nests.”
The Israeli doctors see that Palestinian hospitals have become a legitimate target for the Israeli occupation forces, upholding the narrative that Palestinian Resistance groups are using hospitals for protection.
“The residents of Gaza saw fit to turn hospitals into terrorist nests to take advantage of Western morality, they are the ones who brought destruction upon themselves; terrorism must be eliminated everywhere. Attacking terrorist headquarters is the right and the duty of the Israeli army.”
100 طبيب في اسرائيل يطالبون الجيش الاسرائيلي بقصف المستشفيات في غزة وتفجيرها باعتبارها بنية تحتية لحركة حماس ..
وجاء في الرسالة ” من يخلط بين المستشفيات والارهاب لا مكان آمن له” وتكمل الجملة باستخدام كاتبها لمصطلح توراتي اذ يقول ” لا يمكن التمسك بقرون مذبح* المستشفيات، تخلق… pic.twitter.com/A8rGwkMoNr
— Muna Omari (@MonaOmary) November 5, 2023
The letter has been widely condemned online. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British-Palestinian surgeon who is currently in Gaza, took to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to criticize the letter.
“100 Israeli doctors sign a petition calling for the destruction of all hospitals in Gaza. Lovely people with a great collegiate attitude. They must have taken the same Hippocratic oath as Harold Shipman,” he wrote, referring to an English doctor and serial killer who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2000.
100 Israeli doctors sign a petition calling for the destruction of all hospitals in Gaza. Lovely people with great colleagiate attitude. They must have taken the same Hippocratic oath as Harold Shipman. https://t.co/XgqJvMPQlP
— Ghassan Abu Sitta (@GhassanAbuSitt1) November 5, 2023
Earlier this week, 43 rabbis issued a religious decree to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it is religiously acceptable and permissible to bomb Palestinian hospitals in Gaza.
A document signed by the rabbis states that there was no religious or moral objection to striking hospitals when civilians are allegedly used as shields and hidden behind them, Israel’s Channel 14 television news reported on Thursday.
The message had now been conveyed to military units, the prime minister and cabinet members, the report added.
This comes as the Israeli forces, for the 30th day in a row, are waging a devastating war on Gaza, in which at least 9,770 Palestinians were killed, including 4,800 children and 2,509 women, and more than 24,000 others were injured.
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have repeatedly targeted hospitals, residences, mosques, and churches. Under the Geneva Convention, attacks on hospitals are strictly prohibited.
On October 18, at least 500 civilians were killed by Israeli airstrikes on al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City. The attack has been condemned as an act of genocide by many governments around the world although the Israeli regime has denied responsibility.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, as many as 15 people were killed and 60 others injured on Friday after the regime targeted a convoy of ambulances leaving al-Shifa hospital.
Several hospitals in Gaza City have become refuges for Palestinians hoping to be spared Israeli bombardments, which began on October 7.
